Engineering Manager - Live Ads Supply

Netflix•Los Gatos, CA

1d•$436,000 - $791,000

About The Position

At Netflix, our mission is to entertain the world. Together, we are writing the next episode - pushing the boundaries of storytelling, global fandom and making the unimaginable a reality. We are a dream team obsessed with the uncomfortable excitement of discovering what happens when you merge creativity, intuition and cutting-edge technology. Come be a part of what’s next. Since launching our ad-supported tier in 2022, the momentum has been unstoppable—we reach over 94 million global monthly active users! As we enter our fourth year, our ambition is massive, and we are just getting started. About The Team The Live Ad Insertions team sits at the intersection of broadcast engineering, streaming infrastructure, and digital advertising. Our mission is to deliver a seamless, high-reliability ad insertion experience across live and linear streams, from primetime tentpole events like the NFL and live sports to 24/7 linear feeds and breaking news. We own the full stack of tools, systems, and operational infrastructure required to trigger, stitch, monitor, and verify ad breaks in real time at scale, without compromising the member experience. Live advertising is one of the highest-stakes, highest-reward surfaces in CTV. When tens of millions of concurrent viewers are watching a single event, there are no second chances. A break happens once, in real time, and the window to act is measured in seconds. That demands more than reliable systems: it demands proactive observability tooling that can detect anomalies before they surface to members, and the ability to make real-time corrections mid-event when something does go wrong. This team operates with the precision of a broadcast NOC and the velocity of a software startup. We are responsible for the technology that turns a live signal into a monetized ad experience, at scale, millisecond by millisecond.

Requirements

Deep hands-on experience with live streaming pipelines (from ingest protocols like RTMP, SRT, or TS through to CDN) and ad insertion architectures, including SSAI, CSAI, and SGAI (HLS interstitials/DASH).
Expertise in broadcast signaling (SCTE-35, SCTE-104, SCTE-224) and manifest manipulation for ad stitching, alongside familiarity with master control and linear playout systems.
Advanced knowledge of managing live break constraints, including slate/fallback handling, break reconciliation, and encoding constraints (codec/bitrate matching, frame rate alignment) to prevent playback artifacts.
Strong understanding of ad servers, DSPs, and VAST 4.x/VMAP in live contexts, with a focus on managing strict decisioning latency budgets, timeout handling, tracking event firing, and mitigating the cascading effects of decision failures.
Proven track record of engineering for high-availability, zero-downtime live events, including building operational tooling for ad ops (e.g., real-time fill rate tracking, signal health visualization, and break monitoring workflows).
10+ years of total engineering experience with 3+ years managing software engineering teams in a live media, streaming, or ad tech context.
Strong track record of hiring and developing senior engineers in competitive talent markets.
Ability to operate in a flat, fast-moving organization, balancing long-term architectural investments against immediate operational needs.
Effective communicator across both technical and business stakeholders, including ad sales, ad operations, broadcast engineering, and executive leadership.
Experience collaborating with content and distribution partners, including MVPDs, vMVPDs, and broadcast networks, on joint live ad insertion implementations.

Responsibilities

Lead a team of engineers building the real-time infrastructure, tooling, and operational systems for live ad insertion across server-side, client-side, and server-guided delivery models.
Own the reliability and operational excellence of ad insertion during 24/7 linear streams and high-stakes live events, including NFL games, live sports, and awards shows.
Define the technical roadmap for live ad insertion, including SCTE signal ingestion and validation, ad pod management, manifest stitching, slate handling, and ad decisioning integration.
Partner with ad operations, broadcast engineering, content delivery, and ad serving teams to ensure seamless signal-to-slot execution from ingest to client playback.
Drive hiring, retention, and development of a high-performing engineering team capable of operating in a demanding live environment.
Establish the on-call and incident response culture for live ad systems, setting SLAs and runbooks for break-glass scenarios during high-profile live events.
Contextualize your team's larger advertising strategy and translate business priorities into a technically sound, executable plan.
Serve as the technical authority in cross-functional discussions on live ad capabilities, representing the team to leadership, partners, and vendors.